NNPC, CBN may lose self-accounting status

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has asked the National Assembly to repeal all laws giving some agencies power to be self-accounting.

Its chairman, Mr Elias Mbam, disclosed that agencies generating revenues and spending without recourse to the commission, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), amongst others, may lose their self-accounting status after the constitution review.

This is just as he disclosed that new revenue sharing formula among the statutory drawers from the federation account will be ready in December.

Mbam, during an interactive session with media executives in Lagos, on Friday, also noted that the current constitutional provision guiding the operations of the commission made it a toothless bulldog.

This, according to him, was because the commission was only empowered to advise the president on the sharing formula, adding that the president may accept or reject the advice.

He, however, noted that since the process would not end with the president but the National Assembly, there was the hope that the imminent new sharing formula would sail through.

It was revealed that the commission had tabled a lot of constitutional issues before the National Assembly for amendments, to make it more independent to deliver on its mandate.

On the expected delivery date, he said “I have the honour to inform Nigerians that all things being equal, the commission will, in line with the law, forward an advice on a new revenue sharing formula to the President in December 2013 for onward transmission to the National Assembly.”

He also disclosed that representations had been made to the National Assembly for the abolition of the Joint State/Local Government Account.

To him, the continued existence of the controversial account was a confirmation of the lack of independence of the third-tier of government.

Among the new powers being sought by the commission from the ongoing constitution review, according to him, was the empowerment not to release monthly allocations to states that refused to conduct local government elections.

According to him, “if a state doesn’t conduct local government elections, we should withhold its monies. We hope National Assembly would give us such power.
States taking local government monies should also be suspended from the sharing.”